Preliminary Design

Included Artifacts should have headers, appropriate titles, and revision histories. For more information about how to prepare artifacts, see Artifact Overview.

Executive Summary

Project Title: [Your Project Title]
Team Name: [Your Team Name]
Date: [Submission Date]

1. Project Overview

• Briefly describe the problem your project aims to solve.
• Briefly provide overview of Key Success Measures.

2. Architecture Summary

• Describe/demonstrate chosen architecture. HOW are you going to meet your requirements? This should be a summary of your architecture, and artifacts with more details should be referenced. Tell in words how you envision doing your project. Block diagrams, preliminary drawings, results of any initial prototyping, flowcharts, etc should be referenced for details with the Executive Summary containing a summary of the appropriate artifacts.
• Discuss how you plan to test so that your results can be verified. This should be a summary, and artifacts can be referenced (like test procedures).
• Reference visual representations such as: UML diagrams, flowcharts, use case diagrams, block diagrams, sketches or preliminary drawings, schematics, wireframes, proof of concept prototypes, test procedure plans, preliminary calculations, models, etc. Use references to more detailed artifacts and summarize in the Executive Summary.
• You might want to reference (and include) an artifact that shows the concepts you considered and explains why you chose the design that you chose. Some teams have a very straightforward architecture, while other teams have been required to consider many more design options.

3. State of Preliminary Design

• Summarize the state of your design. Where are you in your current design? What else do you need to figure out? What concerns do you have? What key design decisions will need to be made shortly? What potential roadblocks do you foresee? What do you need to do to overcome those roadblocks?

4. Schedule and Work Plan

• Key tasks and dates to consider for entire scope of project (purchase orders, long lead-time hardware, etc)
• Details about work plan until the next Design Review

Possible Documentation/Artifacts

Included Artifacts should have headers, appropriate titles, and revision histories. For more information about how to prepare artifacts, see Artifact Overview. See the list of Common Artifacts for the types of documentation we anticipate most teams will need.

• Visual representations of the architecture, such as: UML diagrams, flowcharts, use case diagrams, block diagrams, sketches or preliminary drawings, schematics, wireframes
• Proof of concept prototypes
• Test procedure plans
• Preliminary calculations, models, etc.

Presentation

• Simplified Project Overview - 1 slide
• Project Value Proposition - 1 slide
• Preliminary Design Plans (1-4 slides)
• Plan & Schedule (details to next design review and overall project schedule) – 2 slides

GRADING - Executive Summary (100 points)

1. (20 points) Artifacts are formatted with revision-controlled Artifact headers, Overall professionalism, grammatically correct, makes sense overall

2. (10 points) Overview

• Has the team succinctly and intelligibly summarized the problem and the key success measures?

3. (30 points) Architecture Summary

• Does the description of the architecture make sense?
• Is it clear how the concept architecture will meet the project’s requirements?
• Has the test plan been adequately addressed?
• Are detailed artifacts referenced and included?

4. (20 points) State of Preliminary Design

• Is it obvious where the team is in the design?
• Does the team demonstrate a good understanding of what else they need to figure out?
• Does the team demonstrate a good understanding of what decisions need to be made soon?
• Does the team recognize and have a plan for overcoming potential roadblocks?

5. (20 points) Schedule and Work Plan

• Has the team thoughtfully planned out the larger details and long lead-time type decisions that need to be made?
• Does the team have a reasonable plan for the next design stage?

GRADING - Presentation (50 points)

Your presentation will be graded by your Pod Instructor, with input from your review coach.

1. (5 points) Overall professionalism, everyone on time and dressed professionally, slides are clean and clear

2. (5 points) Simplified Overview

• Has the team succinctly and intelligibly summarized the problem and the key success measures?

3. (5 points) Project Value Proposition (1 slide)

• Does the team demonstrate a present understanding of the sponsor’s needs, priorities, and desired outcomes?
• What action is the sponsor going to take based on the outcome?
• What decision will the sponsor make based on the project outcome?
• Is it clear the team is maintaining communication with the sponsor to understand changing needs?
• Have changes to priorities been addressed?

4. (15 points) Architecture Summary

• Does the description of the concept architecture make sense?
• Is it clear how the concept architecture will meet the project’s requirements?
• Has the test plan been adequately addressed?
• Has the team considered how this will meet the project’s value proposition?

5. (10 points) Preliminary Design

• Is it obvious where the team is in the design?
• Does the team demonstrate a good understanding of what else they need to figure out?
• Does the team demonstrate a good understanding of what decisions need to be made soon?
• Does the team recognize and have a plan for overcoming potential roadblocks?

6. (10 points) Schedule and Work Plan

• Has the team thoughtfully planned out the larger details and long lead-time decisions that need to be made?
• Does the team have a reasonable plan for the next design stage?